


Sweet Home Beacon Hills

by Ithinkwehaveanemergency



Series: Love, Greenberg [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: First Crush, Good Theo Raeken, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/pseuds/Ithinkwehaveanemergency
Summary: Greenberg always paid attention.  Especially to Theo Raeken.  So when he returns to town years after high school to find the boy he used to know is far less dead that he'd assumed, he's really not surprised.
Relationships: Greenberg/Theo Raeken
Series: Love, Greenberg [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754119
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	Sweet Home Beacon Hills

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Auddieliz09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auddieliz09/gifts).



Back in Elementary school, Theo Raeken had been in Zac Greenberg's lunch block.

Zac can't quite remember the name of most of his classmates, but he remembers the three troublemakers from the lower level class. Stiles Stilinski and the two poor kids who were always getting dragged into his messes, Scott McCall and Theo Raeken.

He always figured he was probably a total loser for thinking it, but Theo Raeken was adorable.  Zac would stare at their lunch table sometimes and wonder what the solemn young brunette boy was thinking about.

Zac heard things of course, about how creepy most people thought he was, about his family's problems, about his health condition. But Zac thought he was interesting, and he was shocked to realize he thought the kid was kind of cute.

Zac remembers the day that Theo Raeken disappeared. No one even talked about the tragedy of his 7th grade sister. Everyone just acted like the small boy had never existed.

Zac noticed, though.

He noticed everyone who disappeared, including Cora Hale. She sat right in front of him in class. No one talked about her either, but at least Zac knew what happened to her.

Or at least he  _ thought _ he did.

But Zac hadn't yet learned how fucked up his hometown of Beacon Hills could be.

*****

Not much changes for Zac after fifth grade.

In high school, he's still quiet, mediocre at sports and classes, unpopular with just about everyone except the girls in his classes  _ (who all think its adorable he's so quiet, which would be useful if Zac wasn't incredibly gay), _ and he still tends to notice far too much about everything around him.

For example: Beacon Hills is full of supernatural creatures.

Zac has known about the supernatural since his junior year, when he had accidentally fallen asleep in his car outside the school. He was awoken when an abnormally fast, hairy man leapt by his car late into the night. The monster tore back the hood of Stilinski's jeep and threw a piece of the vehicle at the building. Zac hid, crouched behind his steering wheel, until he saw the beast disappear onto campus.

The next time he entered Econ, he was walking directly behind Scott and Stiles, who apparently have no idea how to whisper, and he discovered the creature's name.

_ Werewolf _ .

Not too many months later, Zac sees Derek Hale walking through town with someone who  _ has _ to be his little sister Cora, and Zac throws everything he thought he knew out the window.

And then, right after he's graduated from high school, just as Zac starts to think he'll make it out of this town alive, Theo Raeken's  _ 'family' _ moves in next door.

Olivia Greenberg would never miss an opportunity to gossip, so she has a couple ladies from the block over for tea, and Zac hears them talking about the Raeken family. They revel in the scandal of it and laugh over each other's barbed comments. How "that  _ couldn't _ possibly be the same wife," and "that Jonathan Raeken has aged  _ miserably." _

Zac simply listens and watches. He sees Theo on the day of the move in, and he looks every bit the normal, broody young teen that they all do, but Zac knows better than to assume anything about  _ anyone _ in this town.

Theo waves at Zac one day, head tilting slightly, possibly in recognition. Zac nods and walks to his car as fast as he can without looking suspicious. When he comes back with dinner, all the lights in the Raeken house are out.

The following day, Theo tries to make conversation as they run into each other on the sidewalk.

Theo has come back from a run and is shirtless, sweaty, and distractingly gorgeous.

"You went to elementary school with me, didn't you?" Is how Theo opens the conversation. He's not even panting, and Zac would be suspicious if he wasn't so overwhelmed by the way Theo's pecs shine with sweat.

"Huh, uh… yeah." Zac nods and swallows before speaking again. "No, I mean… I went there, yeah, but I was older than you."

Theo smirks, clearly aware of how flustered he's making Zac. Guys that look like him are rarely oblivious to their effect on others.

"So you don't go to Beacon Hills?"

Zac shakes his head in a negative and tenses as Theo takes another step toward him.

"What's your name?" Theo chuckles and eases back away, like he's noticed the way Zac's heart rate has skyrocketed.

"Zac." He answers. "Zac Greenberg."

"Be seeing you, Zac." Theo smirks again and jogs up to his house, throwing a wave over his shoulder.

Zac bites his nails nervously as he walks inside his own home. He stares out the window and curses the fact that he can't leave for college until January.

Sure enough, the 'Raeken family' eventually becomes suspicious  _ as hell _ .

No one talks about it several weeks later when Theo Raeken disappears again.

Not long after, Zac leaves Beacon Hills in search of a less fucked up place to call home.

*****

Five years later, Zac finds himself staring at his childhood home, key in hand.

His parents' marriage hadn't survived the war that broke out in Beacon Hills. Zac never came home, but he heard about all of it from Danny. Zac's dad had fled and his mom had stayed. She later was arrested for being on the wrong side of things, and Greenberg couldn't bring himself to feel bad for her.

He finds himself oddly nostalgic in the face of returning to his childhood home to sort out what gets tossed and what gets sold or saved.

"Zac?"

The voice startles him out of his daze and he turns to see a sweaty, shirtless,  _ much _ older Theo Raeken staring at him from a few feet down the sidewalk.

"Hey Theo." Zac smiles kindly, and it settles into his bones finally that he's  _ actually _ back in Beacon Hills. "This seems sort of like deja vu."

"Yeah." Theo exhales and looks Zac up and down in an obvious way. Zac is used to it, seeing as how he's become one of those guys who is very aware of what they look like. Theo points it out anyway, though. "Except you got hot. Like… really hot."

"Thanks?" Zac laughs and shrugs. "Some dickbag kid I used to live next to for a few weeks made me feel insecure about my physique when he used to run around shirtless."

A grin spreads over Theo's face and he bursts out into wild laughter.

The front door to the house next door opens and two people that Zac wasn't sure he'd ever see again walk across the lawn to where they're standing.

Theo turns to them and then back to Zac.

"Derek, Cora, this is Zac." Theo nods at Zac with a smile that looks almost proud.

"Hey." Zac nods at the Hale siblings. "Nice to see you Cora. Y'know… Alive and whatnot."

Derek snorts, Cora rolls her eyes, and Zac lets out a sigh of relief that he's not about to get torn in half by werewolves after a poor taste joke.

"You two know each other?" Theo frowns.

"She went to elementary school with us. She was in my class." Zac shrugs. "She died right after you disappeared."

Derek shakes his head and looks at him with confusion at the familiarity in which Zac says these strange things.

"You notice a lot more than most people in this town don't you." Cora asks, one thick eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Look." Zac sighs. He waves his hand at them as if that explains everything. "I thought all of you were dead at one point, and yet… here you are,  _ on my lawn _ . It is not that hard to figure out that this place isn't exactly normal."

"And yet you're back?" Theo beams at him.

"Yeah, well." Zac sucks in a breath and looks at the old house he grew up in. "Apparently I own this shithole, so… yeah. I'm back for a little while. Not sure how long."

"Well maybe we could go get a drink sometime?" Theo suggests, elbowing Cora when she snorts at his lack of subtlety.

"We can get dinner?" Zac agrees. "Maybe tonight? Since my kitchen is in no shape to cook after being abandoned since my mom went to jail?"

"Oh yeah." Derek hums in thought. "Heard about that. I'm guessing you're not… like her?"

"Uh…" Zac furrows his brow and shakes his head. "Not a huge fan of your Uncle, but yeah, I'm Team Jacob all the way."

The Hales blink at him as Theo breaks into surprised laughter once again.

"I hate him." Derek smirks and walks back to the house. Cora rolls her eyes and fights a smile as she follows.

Theo settles down and watches them go before taking a step toward Zac.

"Meet you out here at seven?" Theo suggests, a hopeful look on his handsome face.

"See you then." Zac nods, smiling fondly.

He looks up at the house and starts for the door when he hears Theo call out to him.

"Welcome home, Zac!"

Zac Greenberg thinks that maybe this place isn't so fucked up after all.


End file.
